How to Grow Succulents From Cuttings

Now, before you say you have a black thumb or you can’t grow anything, I’m telling you…you can grow succulents.

Or maybe your thumb is plenty green. In that case, I have a fun, easy project for you too!

I’m talking about propagation. That is…

Growing your succulents from “cuttings.”

You can take the succulents you already have and multiply them into more baby plants!

My interest in plant propagation came from my husband putting the kaibosh on my plant buying spree earlier this year. I had started to amass a small jungle for our indoor garden until he pointed out that it was starting to cost a pretty penny. He had a point. Potted plants start to add up when you’re buying dozens of them at a time. (heeee) So, me being sneaky, thrifty me, I decided to try growing my own. Because it’s pretty much free!

I researched a bunch of different articles. Some said to stick cuttings in the dirt. Some said to not do that and to lay them on top of the dirt instead. I decided to try both to see what would happen.

The result…both ways worked. :)

But I wasn’t that surprised. Plants tend to be pretty resilient and more flexible than we are prone to think, especially hardy plants like succulents. My favorite gardening motto is to just try it! I can’t tell you how many plants have done just fine, despite people giving me advice to the contrary.

Sometimes things don’t work out of course, but that’s what’s great about propagating succulents. The stakes are really low. If it doesn’t work out, all you lost out on is a succulent leaf that may have fallen off your plant eventually anyway.

Materials

ONE: Gather cuttings.

You do this by gently removing leaves from the succulent plant. Make sure you are disconnecting the leaves from where they meet the stem or the main center of the plant. If you tear a leaf off in the middle, it will not be able to take root and propagate. It helps to wiggle it…kind of like you are removing a child’s baby tooth.

TIP: Ask a friend if you can take cutting from their plant. Chances are they won’t mind a bit!

TWO: Let cuttings dry.

You need to let the cuttings dry until the ends are callused over. This takes about 2-3 days. If you don’t wait for the ends to dry out, then they may rot when you plant them and they will not survive or propagate.

THREE: Prepare soil.

Cuttings do best in well draining soil. Choose a high quality potting soil with fertilizers and mix equal parts with perlite (usually found in the indoor potting soil section).

FOUR: Plant cuttings.

There are two methods for doing this. They are very similar to each other with just a couple of differences.

METHOD ONE – Lay them on top of the soil.

Drench the soil with water and let it drain.

Lay cuttings on top, giving them plenty of space.

Put in a bright sunny window.

Water 1-2 times per week. Gently soak the soil all the way through and let it drain for each watering. If you live in a very dry, hot climate, twice a week will be needed. If you live in a cool, humid climate, once a week will be plenty. As long as the soil dries out (stick finger about an inch below top soil) between watering, you will be fine.

After about a month or two, you will begin to see one of two things. Either you will see roots stretch out from the callused ends of the leaves to the soil. Eventually those roots will start to grow a new plant. Or you will see new leaves start to grown at the callused end and the original cutting will start to rot away.

METHOD TWO – Insert cuttings into the soil. (My preferred method)

Drench the soil with water and let it drain.

Insert the cuttings, callused end side down, into the soil. Try not to crowd cuttings.

Put in a bright sunny window.

Water 1-2 times per week. Gently soak the soil all the way through and let it drain for each watering. If you live in a very dry, hot climate, twice a week will be needed. If you live in a cool, humid climate, once a week will be plenty. As long as the soil dries out (stick finger about an inch below top soil) between watering, you will be fine.

After a month or two, you will see new leaves start to grow. The new growth will manifest itself in different ways depending on the succulent. My chicks and hens plant started growing new green leaves right in the middle of the original cutting. Other succulents grew off-shoots of new mini leaves nearby.

That’s really it. It’s easy, and so fun to see them grow.

Now, a warning. They do grow VERY slowly and some grow more slowly than others. I started my cuttings about 4-5 months ago, and most of them are just starting to really grow more than teeny tiny leaves. Some slower growing ones are still just rooting. I imagine it will be a year, before I have small succulent plants. If you are impatient and want big plants, I suggest going to the nursery and buying starts. It’s so much easier. If, however, you can wait a while, then you can have as many succulents as you can handle for next to nothing!

Another note: I started this project as an experiment, so I started with a group of succulents per pot. They grew fine like this and would likely continue to fill out the pot beautifully all together. I decided I wanted them to be in their own pots though, so I re-potted them this last week (at 4-5 months old). Because they were a bit bigger, they were less fragile and made the transition just fine. It helped to wait until the soil was dry to move them. Then I thoroughly watered them after re-potting. (Picture below is before re-potting).

Do you have questions? Please let me know in the comments, and I’ll answer there! :)

I have been looking into that too! You can do it with a lot of plants. I just divided my snake plants a few months ago and they have held up great so far. You can also grow them from cuttings, which I want to try next. I’ve been looking into to how to propagate my fiddle leaf fig and my other plants too. It’s so fun and makes me want to build a green house so I can experiment more!

Thank you for the detailed guide. I too have to maximize my jungle without buying new plants and since I know how easy it is to grow your own from a leaf or branch, I ask all my friends if I can have something of their plants. Works like a charm!

I never used to dry them though and I never experience any rotting. Maybe I was lucky. Maybe they capsuled anyway?! Who knows. Who cares.

Seriously. It makes me want to build a green house just so I can have my own plant nursery from cuttings! :) ha. and yes…you might have gotten lucky. I tried planting a cutting without letting it callus over and it did rot as predicted, but plants are always surprising me. Sometimes their will to live breaks the mold!

My husband is insisting on watering his new succulents that he planted, every two days since the water seems to only go down about two inches. We live in San Diego and have had drought conditions. I’m telling him he’s watering too much. I have some cuttings we’re going to plant. Wish us luck. I’m hoping they don’t rot from over watering!

Hi! I have just recently got my own place and for some reason decided I wanted plants! Idk why because I have never been one to have any or mess with them just because I know nothing about it! I got 2 succulents that were already growing and have been trying to take care of them lol the first one is a “watch Chain Succulent” and I’m not sure how it’s doing because it seems very fragile! The leaves/vines seem to fall off or separate from the rest of the plant easily and it doesnt seem to want to stay down in the soil very well! I’m not sure what the other succulent is exactly because I accidentally threw the tag away before I though to look, but it looks similar to a chick and hen to me. It looked too big for the planter it was In so i took a chance and pulled it out and low and behold lol it was root bound, barely any soil left so i broke up the roots as much as i could as gently as i could because i dont actually know how to do this lol and put it in a larger pot with some fresh soil and watered it a bit. None of my pots have drainage holes because they are inside my apartment and sitting on wood furniture… any advise? Do they have to have drainage to survive?

Are chain succulents similar to pearl succulents? If so, I tried growing those and they died on me. So I guess I can’t offer much advice on those! Ha! As for the others, that is great that you broke up the root bound one. Most plants really hate having wet feet and they can end up rotting, so good drainage is best. I have grown succulents with no draining pots, but that only worked in a dry climate (I used to live in Utah) and with sparse watering. I hope that helps. Congrats on the new place!

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